Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

qmtv Not very original. But intelligent. Decent story for a giallo. Good Production – Cinematography, Acting, Music, etc.One of the best parts is when the cop visits the blind piano player and says "I hope you can set a light on it" – It's dialogue like this that adds to the intelligence of the story. It furthers the film.A few questions: 1) Who were the 3 people that helped the car victim? 2) What happened to the butler toward the end of the movie? 3) Why did the blind guy follow the husband to the abandoned factory? The shower scene at the end was a shocker. The victim was very helpful to the piano player and she doesn't survive.The ending reveal was just OK. Most reviewers state that this movie copies form other movies. This is true. I don't mind that too much.Professional production. Very good local scenes from the period. Main actor was very good, and the supporting actors were all decent. Cinematography was good. I didn't like the editing for the kills.Nothing very special here. But still the rating is a C, or 5 stars.I would rather see this film than the garbage made by Argento. I hate Suspiria, the most overrated, amateur pile of garbage ever released. Incredibly poor writing, acting, dialogue, scenes, God awful cartoon lighting, cinematography, disgusting, incomprehensible plot (cult witches in a German ballet school?!). Watch the scene again when the blind guy gets torn apart by his dog. Fake Dog! Watch the scene when the professor/expert reveals the witches to the main character. Suspiria is truly garbage movie. I tried to watch again and take notes on every scene, so I can write a true tear down of this trash. I only made it about 15 minutes. I recently watched Four Flies, another amateur, trash, garbage acting, and story. Plumage – trash. I just cannot understand the people who enjoy or elevate this trash to royalty. Argento is crap. Bava – maybe a bit better, but still garbage. The only reason to watch 5 Dolls for an August Moon is to see Edwige Fenech. I saw Blood and Black Lace last year. This was an OK movie. But I didn't think it was great. Here's another pile of garbage boring nonsense movie that somehow has a cult following: What Have You Done to Solange? So, the facts are opinions are like a..h…., everybody's got one. My opinion is if you venture to produce art, I require a professional product. The Crimes of the Black Cat is not the most original movie, but it is entertaining and it is professionally done. Argento and Bava – NOT. People who love these clowns dismiss and make excuses for their incompetence. Lack of story, bottom of the barrel acting, crappy editing. They dismiss all this and say, yeah but look at the scenes and the inventive kills and scenery. So, if you bought into the Argento and Bava superiority, you know who you are, then congratulations!

capkronos I'll go ahead and sacrifice my "helpful" score by admitting that I'm not the biggest giallo fan. For every one film classified as such that's an enjoyably stylish thriller (the best seem to come from Mario Bava, Dario Argento and Sergio Martino), there are about three that are pedestrian, lifeless, sloth-paced, visually unexciting and completely and utterly devoid of any originality. I've honestly had a difficult time trying to stay awake while watching some of these films. So, not surprisingly, I tend to disagree with others about what are actually the better films in this genre. One can gouge from the lower-than-usual score on here that this isn't one of the more popular films of its type, but I actually thought it was more entertaining than the majority of others I've seen. Why? Because it's nutty, goes OTT a few times and the killer's modus operandi is every bit as ingenious as it is ridiculous! Don't get me wrong, this is painfully derivative of many other, better films (Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE and Argento's CAT O' NINE TAILS instantly come to mind), but since the exact same thing can be said for about 95 percent of the films this one shares company with, that really didn't bother me a whole lot. And silly as this was at times, it also had some legitimately great moments that deserve mention.Blind pianist Peter Oliver (Anthony Steffen) decides to play freelance Sherlock Holmes after his unfaithful model ex-girlfriend Paola Whitney (Isabelle Marchall) is killed under mysterious circumstances. A fashion house run by wealthy Françoise Ballais (Sylva Koscina) and her ex-con playboy husband Victor Morgan (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart), soon becomes the centerpiece for the obligatory string of cover-up murders to follow the first crime. Since Peter can't see, he enlists the aid of his assistant (Umberto Raho) and a fashion house employee (Shirley Corrigan) to help uncover the killer. Throw in a caped, strung-out heroin addict ("Jeannette Len"/Giovanni Lenzi), a photographer, a police inspector, a temperamental black kitty cat with toxic paws and a pair of lesbian models and your list of suspects and victims is now complete. There's the expected backstabbing, blackmail and adultery to help provide a motive, plus some nudity and gore thrown in for good measure. The cast isn't too bad (Steffen and Lenzi both do good jobs) and there are some pretty solid scenes, especially one taking place at some outdoor recycling facility (I think that's what it was) full of broken glass. Also worth mentioning is an awesomely gory shower slashing that's one of the nastiest (and best) set pieces in the entire giallo oeuvre. On the down side, the ending feels very rushed and the score isn't quite up to par, but all in all, this was a decent enough effort.

The_Void The Crimes of the Black Cat is a pretty typical Giallo, which takes influence from many of the more established genre classics. The central character is blind, which is an idea lifted from Argento's 'The Cat o'Nine Tails', and the style and plotting is clearly reminiscent of Argento's early work. The black cat is an animal often seen in horror films, and that's down to Edgar Allen Poe and his famous story about the ominous animal. The way that the cat is used in this film is good because it's instrumental to the plot (unlike other Giallo's which mention a cat in the title and barely even feature one), but it really has to be said that the modus operandi used by the murderer is completely ridiculous even for a Giallo. The plot focuses on Peter Oliver; a blind, yet rich man who finds himself at the centre of a murder investigation when his girlfriend is killed. It seems that someone has a grudge against some of the local fashion models, and all the murders have the common theme of a yellow shawl being found next to the dead victims. But how do you catch a murderer that you cannot see?Director Sergio Pastore, while taking many themes from across the Giallo genre, hasn't decided to make the film as bloody as some of its counterparts. The murder weapon doesn't allow for too much of the red stuff, but even so; it comes as a huge shock at the end when this placid film explodes with a Psycho-style shower sequence that features some of the most disgusting gore in the entire Giallo genre; and almost makes up for the lack of blood in the rest of the film. There is a lot of sleaze in the movie, however, and this is shown through ideas such as lesbianism and drug use; and that in turns blends well with the depressing urban climate in which the movie takes place. The acting is nothing special, but it's not bad in Giallo terms. Antonio De Teffè does well in the lead role and succeeds at convincing us he is actually blind. There are no real stars in the film beside him, and the lack of a heroine doesn't do the film too many favours either. Overall, this is a rather strange entry in the Giallo cycle as it has a number of good and inventive moments; but it's all encased around a lot of borrowing and tributes. Still, i wouldn't hesitate to rate this film as a success and it comes recommended to Giallo fans!

macabro357 (aka: THE CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT)Filmed in Denmark with a largely Italian cast in a setting away from the usual Italian locations for this genre. So forget that these people are Danes speaking Italian. You can't be too specific with a film like this.OK so you've seen this before and if you've seen BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, then you'll know how it turns out. Even so, this really isn't bad watching and the story is constructed well despite a couple of suspense contrivances for the audience like footsteps approaching a door, expecting the viewer to believe it's the killer when it turns out to be the hotel bellboy delivering breakfast.Blind composer Peter Oliver (spaghetti western star, Anthony Steffen) helps sleuth the murders of fashion models in swanky Copenhagen after his close friend Paola is murdered. He suspects something is wrong when he overhears a conversation about a crime in a restaurant while waiting for Paola to show up. She never does. It turns out Paola is blackmailing Victor (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart), threatening to expose some incriminating photographs to his wife (Sylvia Koscina).Of course when it comes to this genre, the murders can't always be done in a straightforward way and one particular device is using a black cat who's hands are dipped in curare, scratching the victims and causing them to have heart attacks. Strange, yes, but that's typical of the genre so one has to suspend disbelief if you want to watch films like this.I won't reveal who the name of the killer is. You'll have to see that for yourself, but I will say that it ends in one of those typical freeze-frame endings that were popular in the 1970s.The DVD by Degored is of poor quality, taken from videotape source with dropouts appearing occasionally and muffled sound, although the subtitles in English look pretty accurate.There are worse out there.5 out of 10